


Who Are You?

by Orange_Haze



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:21:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29456643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orange_Haze/pseuds/Orange_Haze
Summary: Balthier is almost positive he's figured out who his soulmate is.  Unfortunately, it doesn't go both ways.
Relationships: Balthier/Vaan (Ivalice Alliance)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Who Are You?

**Author's Note:**

> Just having fun for Valentine's Day. Super indulgent soul mark fic, with the usual amount of misunderstandings and pining.

Ffamran is five years old the day his words appear, just beneath his right collarbone. He’s already an avid reader of the children’s books littering his nursery room floor, but reading upside down proves too challenging, so he seeks out his mother. He excitedly points to the mark when he finds her and asks what it says.

She inspects it with a smile but it slowly turns into a look of pity.

_Who are you?_

She quickly puts on a neutral expression and explains how these words are very special. One day he’ll meet his soulmate (when he makes a face at that word, she quickly amends it to, “your special person”) and those will be the first words they say to him. Then his words will change color, she hopes it will be red for love, but (and this time she anticipates his look of disgust) assures him they could also be blue for friendship or green if they meet when at least one of them is too young for a romantic bond and change color again later.

Feeling a maternal obligation to explain the potential downside, she quietly adds that sometimes, soul marks are not reciprocated.

Ffamran, being far too smart for his age, fully understands the meaning of those words. He is not at all interested in a love match and says to his mother, “I hope it’s that last one!”

It’s not until he reaches puberty that Ffamran realizes why his mother looked so sad for him when she first saw his words: they’re _useless_.

As he ventures more and more into the seedy underbelly of New and Old Archades alike, testing boundaries and trying to find something fun to do, he hears his words no less than twenty times a day. _Who are you?_ It’s exhausting to feel his heart start racing so often only to peek down his shirt and see his mark remain unchanged. He suspects the only mark more common and unhelpful than his is, _Hello_.

And he absolutely does _not_ want the first words he says to his person (be they romantically or platonically linked) to be something so drab and ordinary. Thus, he makes it his life’s goal to say something entirely unique to every person he meets for the first time. If anyone were to ask why, he’d claim it’s to show that, between him and his special person, he’s the better of the two.

But to himself, he admits he just wants to make sure that his person instantly knows it’s him.

By the time he steals the Strahl, changes his name and quits Archades entirely (or better known as commits desertion), _Balthier_ has become wholly adept at always saying something that will make a lasting first impression. For example, when he comes across the viera who will become his partner in sky pirating, he greets her with, “A little far from your warren, aren’t you?”

That earns him a hard slap which makes him smile as he rubs his reddening cheek and playfully say, “Oh, I _like_ that.”

“As much as you’ll like me cutting out your tongue for speaking to me thus?” she says, dead serious.

He tries not to deflate too much. She may not be his person, but Fran is amazing and he finds a way to get on her good side.

For five years they galavant around Ivalice searching for treasure and plundering Archadian military airships. Early on, Fran asks him why he left his home only to steal from her (his damn accent gives him away every time). He gives her as much truth as he dares, which naturally leaves out a whole lot about Dr. Cid and his madness. And he most certainly doesn’t admit that he long ago figured out the words on his chest are not from an Archadian, judging by the messy basic Standard print they’re written in, and that the only way to find his person was to leave. There were far more pressing reasons to get out of there as fast as possible anyway.

He continues to hear _Who are you?_ nearly everyday of his life and finally just stops caring. He even starts wearing tight vests over his dress shirts to keep himself from peeking at his collarbone every time he hears it. It’s typically demanded right before a shoot out anyway, and he can’t afford the distraction.

Besides, what would it matter if he knew he found his person right before they shot him in the head?

In hindsight, all these steps he took to protect himself naturally leave a lot of room for chaos. Because the night he does meet his person is right smack in the middle of the two of them trying to steal the same damn crystal from the Dalmascan palace! And Balthier knows he didn’t say “hello” to the desert thief’s back, but when the blonde whips around, he’s a bit stunned by how _pretty_ he is. When the young man asks, “Who are you?” Balthier pushes aside the part of him that thinks, _Wouldn’t_ that _be nice?_ because there just isn’t enough time to untie half his clothes to just take a peek when he’s already prepared himself for disappointment yet again.

Hours later when there _is_ time for that, he is by himself, sitting in a corner of the Nalbina prison. Balthier stares at his now red ( _red!_ ) words and begins having a mini panic attack. He is ninety percent certain that the thief—Vaan—is the _only_ person who said his words to him since he last checked.

But he has _no idea_ what he said to him!

All he does recall is that Vaan didn’t react to whatever Balthier said to get his attention in the secret treasure room the way someone would if he had been waiting to hear those words his whole life. Which can only mean one thing...

Funny. He didn’t realize he had a heart to break.

Still, he darts after the blonde, and good thing too. Vaan is about five seconds from getting the rest of his face smashed in by the resident seeq gang when Balthier finds him and makes a heart throbbing entrance to save him.

The revelation that he has an unrequited red mark distracts Balthier for the remainder of their escape from prison (Fran pulls him aside at one point and says, “You reek of misery. What has happened since I last saw you?”). He hates to admit it, but once he was old enough, he actually _did_ hope his words would turn red... Obviously he forgot to add that he would also appreciate it being reciprocated, but that’s what he gets for assuming anything. To make matters worse, the more time he spends with Vaan, the more he realizes it’s not just that the blonde is ridiculously attractive that catches his eye. He’s also charming and sweet and looks at Balthier like he’s the goal Vaan has set for himself and no one has ever looked at the brunette with that kind of admiration before and—

And it is a _lot_ to grapple with.

He needs to get away from him.

But Balthier must be the punchline of some cosmic joke, because he somehow gets roped into an epic long quest with Vaan and...

And he _really_ likes him.

Early on in their journey, when they’re trailing behind Fran, Basch and Lamont in Bhujerba, on the way to the Lhusu Mines, Balthier asks the thief (who _just_ blurted out the name of their _most_ wanted party member without thinking):

“Do you need reminding that _all_ of us are wanted right now? That includes you, don’t forget.”

Vaan looks amused by the thought. “So, there’s a bounty on me too?”

“Doubtless. You escaped from an inescapable prison.” The warden won’t like that tarnish on his record.

“How much?” he asks, face lighting up.

The unexpected question makes him blink. “How much do I think the bounty is on _you?_ ” Vaan nods in confirmation, so he starts thinking out loud. “Maybe a few thousand? You have no priors, if I’m not mistaken, and you were arrested for a nonviolent crime. The worst thing you’ve done is embarrass the empire, so it should be just enough to garner interest while signaling they don’t expect you to be hard to restrain. So, maybe between five and eight thousand gil?”

Vaan holds his chin with a calculating expression Balthier has yet to see on him. “Where would they take me?”

He’s about to answer when he’s struck by an epiphany. “Are you _planning_ to get recaptured?!”

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” he says earnestly while holding up his index finger in Balthier’s face. “If Kytes and Filo hand me in for the reward, I can just break out again and we’d have more than enough money for a year. Maybe three if we budget right!”

At the puzzled look on Balthier’s face, Vaan casually explains to the sky pirate how he more or less adopted every orphan in Rabanastre during the confusion of relocating the Dalmascan population to Lowtown. Apparently he was savvy enough to lie (convincingly, by some miracle) to the incompetent group of imperials in charge of the transition and claim to be the older brother to every stray child. At least until he could find each of them a new family.

“There’s about six left who just wanted to stay together,” he explains like it is no big deal _at all_ that he singlehandedly saved an entire generation of Dalmascans from being shipped off to Archades and indoctrinated in an imperial orphanage.

Balthier wonders what sort of God would pair up a rich brat turned sky pirate due primarily to a rebellious streak with this protector of the innocents, but then remembers it is a one-sided bond and obviously that means his person would be too good for him.

But if they’re going to be stuck together for the foreseeable future anyway, Balthier decides he might as well try to seduce the blonde. If nothing else, he can get a night of passion out of this ridiculous scenario. Hopefully two.

So as much as possible he tries to show off his precision with a gun (not many people can fire them using only one hand and still get a headshot), his powers of persuasion (he gets the idea to demand Marquis Ondore feed them a lavish dinner when he hears Vaan’s stomach growling next to him), and of course his prized possession, the Strahl. 

Vaan _really_ likes the Strahl.

Given how much of Vaan’s skin Balthier can see on a daily basis, the brunette starts to wonder if perhaps Vaan is mark-less. In which case, maybe he’s destined for Balthier’s airship, which honestly the sky pirate could live with.

In any event, he thinks he might be getting somewhere with the thief. Today, the two of them are several meters behind the rest of the group (including their guest, Vossler) on one of the oil rigs spanning the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. Without warning, Vaan falls flat on his face, like he’s just been hit by sleep.

Except Balthier already shot and killed the Yensa about to cast the spell on him, so the sky pirate assumes some game is afoot.

He calmly walks over and kneels down next to Vaan and flicks his nose, but the blonde keeps on pretending to snore softly. Smirking, Balthier very loudly claps his hands next to the blonde’s ear to mimic the sound of a slap.

One of those pretty grey blue peeks open. “You’re not going to use a kiss?”

“Unfortunately we are all out of princes, but I can get Ashe if you like,” he quips.

Vaan opens both eyes to look at him and ask, “Oh, so you’re not an imperial royal in disguise?”

He doesn’t want Vaan lumping him together with everything he associates with the empire, so he explains, “I’m technically _not_ Archadian.” He did defect five years ago.

This piece of information startles Vaan who quickly gets to his feet. “Oh, r-right. If you’re a sky pirate, then... Right, you’re _not_ Archadian.” He gives Balthier a look that the sky pirate would love to label “longing” (but that seems too self-serving, even for him), before bounding off to catch up with the others.

Odd. He thought Vaan of all people would _prefer_ non-imperials.

Still, his mark must be right about _something_ because, despite himself, Vaan seems more attracted to Balthier with each passing day. He tries to pickpocket the older man at every opportunity, smiling shyly up at him whenever Balthier clasps his wrist before the thief can pull his hand off the sky pirate with whatever he got his sticky little fingers on. He has also taken to trying to roll up Balthier’s cuffs, and if the brunette didn’t know any better, he’d assume Vaan is attempting to locate his words.

But why would he care to look _now_ , when they’ve known each other for a few weeks? Surely he’s already ruled out Balthier as his match?

Unless Vaan really _is_ mark-less and wants to make sure Balthier is not in a love bond.

Likewise, Balthier hopes that Vaan never ends up in a love bond with anyone. Yes, he knows he’s a terrible person. But if Vaan finds his love match right in front of him, Balthier is going to save Vaan the trouble and cut his own damn heart out himself.

Which makes it all the more confusing when he wakes up in his bed on the Strahl the night after they’ve made it back to Rabanastre from the Leviathan to find Vaan in his arms.

The blonde’s face is pressed against his chest and he is clutching Balthier so tight, it takes the sky pirate a few moments to realize Vaan is shaking. He’s dazed from being woken up in such a manner but instinctively cradles him closer and runs his fingers through that soft blonde hair.

“What’s wrong?” he murmurs, startling his unexpected bedmate.

Vaan sniffles loudly before looking at Balthier, pure devastation written across what he can see of the younger man’s face. “Penelo told me she met her soulmate...” he whispers brokenly.

He knows Vaan can’t have been hoping to be Penelo’s match, not when they’ve known each other their whole lives with no results. He doesn’t understand what the problem is.

“Usually this is deemed good news...” he says hesitantly.

“I know,” he presses his face back against Balthier’s night shirt and heaves a whimpering sigh. “But I... I am so jealous she found her person, I can’t even look at her!”

And before Balthier can blink, Vaan shifts up to desperately kiss the sky pirate. And he knows he should stop this. It doesn’t mean what Balthier wants it to mean. The blonde would probably be doing this with anyone warm and willing right now. Vaan is just feeling hurt and lonely. 

But damn it, so is he!

He fists Vaan’s hair and pulls the blonde tight against him, noticing for the first time that Vaan is not wearing his vest. But it’s too dark to see much besides the vague outline of the thief anyway, so Balthier focuses on what he can feel. He deepens the clumsy attempt at a kiss and wonders if Vaan has kissed _anyone_ before—a lot of teens with black marks hold out in the hopes of sharing all their firsts with a red match—but he stops that train of thought because it’s as exciting as it is devastating to Balthier, if that’s the case.

Vaan tries to run his hands over as much of the sky pirate as he can, which is pretty limited while being clutched so tight against him. Even still, he tugs at Balthier’s night shirt, a clear indication he wants it gone, and Balthier pulls his lips away.

“Either it stays or you go,” he warns. He doesn’t want to risk Vaan seeing his mark. If the fact that it’s red doesn’t scare him away then the possible realization that it’s red _because of Vaan_ most certainly will, once the thief pieces together it’s unrequited.

Grumbling in frustration, Vaan lets go of the fabric and presses his mouth against Balthier’s again. He’s already doing a better job this time and the brunette melts into it. He runs his hand down the teen’s spine and Vaan momentarily freezes before using twice as much enthusiasm.

When Balthier feels his fingers dip into the blonde’s waist band, he changes direction and grips those narrow hips instead. Someday he wants to feel Vaan’s naked body pressed flush against his, but not when he’s tasting salty tears in their kisses.

They make out a little longer before Balthier needs to stop (if he still intends to keep all their clothes on). He pulls Vaan away by his hair before cupping his cheek and whispers, “Do you want to stay?”

He can barely see the look of indecision on the thief’s face. He figured. This was Vaan venting teenage frustration at how unfair the world seems right now. He probably doesn’t even know why he broke into the Strahl to seek out Balthier of all people.

It hurts about as much as you’d expect it to.

He sighs before softly kissing him on the lips, just in case it’s the last time, and says, “Go back to bed, Vaan.”

The blonde is out of the room in the blink of an eye.

He tries not to let that night change how he acts around his person. And really, it’s not as difficult as he feared. All he has to do is tell himself it was a dream, over and over again, and not look at Vaan at all. Any time he does, his hand itches to touch him and he doesn’t trust himself to let go this time. 

The novel inclement weather in Giza helps. With all that rain water streaming down his face, Balthier can pretend he can’t see more than an inch or two past his nose and focuses on the path right in front of him. The obvious flaw to this plan is that the sky pirate ignores essentially everything else around him and gets pinned by one of the hyenas that stalk the party.

He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty, but after it tears into his vest, Balthier risks carefully prying its jaws open and holding them back to prevent the beast from ripping out his throat with those fangs. He doesn’t have much room for leverage though, and just has to wait for Fran to come to his aid and kick the mangy dog off of him before he can grab his gun and shoot it in the face.

At least they make it to the abandoned nomad camp right after that. There’s a lull in the rain and while they all sit down to catch their breath, Penelo offers to patch up his vest. Before he can think better on it, he thanks her and pulls the torn garment off. He has more vests on the Strahl and in his rucksack, but it’s good to have a “for fighting” one that’s still barely presentable in a pinch.

As though from thin air, Vaan materializes beside him and stares at a spot on the sky pirate’s chest in alarm. “You’re hurt!” he exclaims, leaning closer to—

“No, it’s fine!” Balthier slaps his left hand over his words. His linen shirt is so saturated, the red color shines through the nearly transparent garment like blood.

He can tell the moment Vaan realizes what he just saw. The desert thief has never looked so pale. And it might just be the leftover rain water dripping from his blonde hair, but the thief’s eyes turn glassy at a startling rate before he jumps to his feet and mutters, “I... I gotta check on—“ He runs out of sight so quickly, Penelo nearly gets whiplash as she looks back and forth between her best friend and the sky pirate, in utter bewilderment.

Vaan doesn’t come back for over an hour.

Turns out it’s easier to avoid Vaan when the younger man responds in kind. As they enter the Ozmone Plain, Balthier has an inner debate with himself over when and how he should tell Vaan about his mark, seeing as the blonde has understandably jumped to the wrong conclusion. Gods only know what he thinks about the sky pirate now for returning his physical affections the other night when there’s a red mark emblazoned beneath his collarbone.

And even though it would have only made the situation worse, Balthier can’t help but think that if he had known at the time that _that_ was most likely his one and only shot with the thief, he would have done so much more than just shove his tongue down his throat.

The time to talk to Vaan becomes apparent soon after the party reaches the Garif village, Jahara. They cross paths again with young Larsa Solidor who takes one look at Penelo and smiles so warmly at her that any doubt Balthier had as to who her match could be evaporates like morning dew beneath the harsh desert sun. (He must admit he’s curious though. He’s never actually seen a green mark and Larsa must surely be too young for a red one.)

Vaan either already knows or spots the same clues as the sky pirate; he doesn’t look at either one of the pair and appears absolutely crushed by their happiness.

It’s already late but thankfully the Garif are hospitable enough to invite them to stay the night. As soon as he gets the chance, Vaan wanders away from the rest of the party and Balthier tails him. Once they’re practically outside the village, he calls out to him to wait and at the sound of the sky pirate’s voice, the thief rounds on him with a snarl, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

He rolls his eyes at the palpable angst emanating from the teen. “That’s fine, I planned on doing the talking.” He holds Vaan’s gaze steady for a moment to organize his thoughts. “How can you even justify being upset with me? Aren’t you forgetting who snuck into whose bed?”

The blonde’s cheeks flare as his face morphs into a petulant pout, but it’s a vast improvement from the anger aimed at the sky pirate a moment ago, so Balthier counts it as a win.

“... Besides. You have nothing to worry about with... This,” he gestures vaguely towards his mark, hidden beneath layers of clothes. He swallows, steeling himself for the next part. His eyes drift down to Vaan’s feet.

“...It’s unrequited.”

There’s a long pause before Balthier realizes that he can’t do it. He can’t bring himself to tell Vaan who he is bonded to.

He starts when he feels Vaan clutch his sleeves above his elbows. He was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice the younger man ran up to him. With a look of complete disbelief, Vaan stares up into his eyes.

“That’s impossible.”

He doesn’t want Vaan’s pity. He breaks eye contact again and says bitterly, “It’s not unheard of.”

From the corner of his eye, he sees Vaan is slowly shaking in head, no, but it doesn’t change the reality of their situation.

Still... Balthier is only hume. As long as the thief continues to hold some warm feelings for him...

He breaks his arms out of the blonde’s grip to cup his face and kiss him. Vaan emits a surprised noise that quickly turns into something Balthier suspects might be a sob, but so long as the thief is clinging to him again he doesn’t overanalyze it. He only lets Vaan go when he hears running footsteps hit the opposite end of the wooden bridge behind them. Then he merely drops his arms at his sides and locks eyes with the younger man, not even attempting to hide how much he wants to continue what they were doing.

Vaan looks like he’s about to say something when Ashe makes her presence known, having almost reached their side of the bridge, and Balthier excuses himself. Right now he doesn’t have the patience for the princess and her revenge-fueled desire to wield nethicite. He has taken notice that she always seems a bit more bearable after speaking with Vaan or Penelo though, so maybe there’s some hope for her yet.

The next few nights are pure torture for the sky pirate. Vaan seems to have shaken off his misgivings about pursuing him after learning Balthier’s words are one-sided, and now the brunette wakes up every night before dawn to the churl pressed up against him. It wouldn’t be so bad if the thief wasn’t an inadvertent minx in his sleep!

One night Balthier’s bloodshot eyes snap open thanks to Vaan murmuring softly against the back of his neck, lost in some dream. He has to slip away to take care of the resulting hard on in private before he ruins his last set of (comparatively) clean clothes.

After that he seeks out Fran’s help to rig the night shift lots so that Vaan’s is always followed up immediately by either him or the viera, to ensure the thief won’t have the chance to slip into Balthier’s bedroll unnoticed. Although she assists him with this, Fran makes her distaste quite plain; she’s known all ever since Balthier blurted out his Vaan-related woes to her at the tavern in Rabanastre post-prison break out. And she has been very upfront with him about her views on this entire affair: Balthier is a fool.

She really doesn’t need to keep telling him that. He never denied it in the first place.

It winds up being a meaningless attempt to hold his person at arm’s length anyway. When they climb the frigid Mt. Bur-Omisace to see the kiltias, it’s Balthier who all but shares a cloak with Vaan to ensure the desert thief won’t freeze to death. While tucked under the sky pirate’s arm, Vaan whispers (or at least shouts just loud enough for only Balthier to hear over the howling wind, not the rest of the party), “So are you done avoiding this?” He motions his hand between the two of them.

The unexpected question almost causes him to lose his footing in the snow. He shoots a piercing look at the blonde, “Is this really the conversation you want to have in front of everyone?”

“Did you say something?!” Penelo shouts at the top of her lungs to be heard over the wind. She and Larsa are not even three steps behind them.

Vaan gives him a look that all but screams, “You were saying?”

He rolls his eyes. “Regardless, let’s wait until after we finish our business with the Gran Kiltias, shall we?”

Their audience with the holy man veers wildly off course when that Rozzarian fop, Al-Cid, shows up and informs all of them of Emperor Gramis’s death as though he’s giving an update on wind conditions. Larsa, understandably, needs some time to process the news and no one stops Penelo from going with him to offer whatever comfort her presence can bring him. They need to rest for the night before beginning their trip to the Stilshrine of Miriam anyway.

That gives Vaan the perfect opportunity to volunteer to share a tent with the the sky pirate (Basch, of course, will share one with his sovereign to guard her. When Balthier looks helplessly at Fran, she smiles back benignly and informs them that she has spotted another viera assisting the refugees and plans to speak with her tonight). He weighs the pros and cons of wandering off and freezing to death on the mountain instead, but ultimately decides that the fates still owe him at least _one_ night of something more than simply locking lips with the blonde before he dies. He begrudgingly accepts the arrangement.

The tent they find themselves in is made of surprisingly good quality hide. It’s also lined with enough pelts for insulation that Balthier realizes it should be private enough from prying eyes even if they had a full raging camp fire illuminating the inside, let alone the few small candles that could be spared for them.

He braces himself for Vaan to invade his personal space the moment they’re alone, but finds the blonde fidgeting in the opposite corner looking anywhere but at Balthier. Where did all that bravado from earlier go?

“...You wanted to discuss something with me?” he says, just to give the younger man something to work with, since he’s painfully nervous about this conversation. Balthier really doesn’t understand where all this shyness is stemming from when Vaan made his own intentions perfectly clear the past few nights.

Those grey blue eyes snap to Balthier’s face and the brunette realizes by the look of them that Vaan isn’t just _nervous_ , he’s about ready to _bolt!_ From _him!_

He can’t take this anymore. He gets up and starts to leave the tent and says over his shoulder, “You don’t have to for—“

“Youcanreadcursiveright?” Vaan blurts out all in one breath, cutting him off. 

“...Pardon?” he drops the tent flap and faces him directly.

Vaan is desperately trying to maintain eye contact but his face is so red, Balthier is starting to feel embarrassed as well, on his behalf.

“You’re not Archadian, but you can still read cursive Standard, right?” Vaan says, slower this time.

He needs to take a breath to steady his heart rate. For all he knows, Vaan found a journal he’s curious to leaf through. “Of course.”

Now Vaan’s eyes dart to the floor and Balthier has to strain to make out his mumbled, “...look at... mark...”

“You want me to look at your mark...?” He isn’t sure what he wants more: Vaan to confirm or deny it.

“Someone has to,” Vaan tells the floor.

He wonders what the younger man is talking about as he watches Vaan start unhooking his vest and turn aroun—

“It’s on your _back?!_ ”

In some of the most elaborate script Balthier has ever seen for a soul mark, cradled between Vaan’s shoulder blades, are blood red words.

_Quite a performance._

The words themselves mean absolutely nothing to him, but a lot of things start falling into place for Balthier.

“...You’ve _never_ seen it before?” he breathes.

The blonde shakes his head furiously. “I’ve never had a mirror big enough.”

“And no one has ever read it to you,” he surmises as he slowly walks up behind him in a daze.

Vaan swallows before whispering, “My mother could read it, but my father didn’t like that it looks like I’m matched with an Archadian.”

Balthier is almost upon him and makes an offhand comment, “He’s not, he defected.”

Vaan whirls around, shocked. “You know who it is?! Does it say a name?!”

“No name,” he murmurs as he pulls Vaan against him and starts to tilt his head up.

“Then... Then how—“

“That’s my handwriting,” he whispers against his lips.

Vaan looks like he just short circuited as he processes the words, giving Balthier ample time to deepen the kiss and run his hands down the blonde’s body. He is going to learn every inch of him, just as soon as he figures out how to undo these straps around that red sash. He’s just started tangling up his fingers around them when Balthier abruptly finds he is no longer kissing Vaan and takes a moment to understand it’s because the younger man pulled back to stare him in the eye.

“You said your soul mark was ‘unrequited.’” Vaan looks close to tears. “Were you just messing with me? I swear, Balthier if you’re lying to me, I will _leave._ I will go home and _never_ speak to you again.” His face crumples, which is bad enough, but then Vaan’s voice breaks when confesses, “I wanted it to be you _so much_.”

At those words, the brunette starts tearing off his vest, cravat and shirt in record time to direct Vaan’s attention to his mark nestled under his right collarbone. “Look familiar?”

Vaan studies it intently and slowly reads, “Who... Are... You.” He gives Balthier a sympathetic look. “Wow, you must have been really frustrated.”

“You have no idea,” he says with a deadpan expression. “But I wager if I asked you to write that down it’d be the same scribble that’s on me.”

Cheeks turning pink, Vaan asks, “So you knew it was me, but you didn’t say anything? Why not?”

For the first time in years, Balthier feels his own cheeks heat up. “You didn’t react at all to what I said to you in the treasure room. Naturally, I assumed that meant I wasn’t your match.”

Vaan tries to look over his own shoulder, plainly dying of curiosity. “What does it say? I don’t remember what you said when we met!”

Instead of telling him, the sky pirate turns his face back towards him to capture his lips again. He honestly doesn’t care what Vaan’s words say, so long as Balthier knows _he’s_ the one who said them. More imperative is the realization that he could have been doing this for weeks! Save for some idiotic miscalculation on his part.

When he finally— _finally_ —gets to feel the thief’s lithe, naked body pressed against his, Balthier remembers a key detail from the night he met his person.

“Your back was to me,” he whispers against Vaan’s shoulder. Likewise, he currently has Vaan’s back facing him now as the blonde straddles the sky pirate. Balthier keeps tracing the thief’s words as Vaan slowly moves his hips, adjusting to this new feeling of being filled.

“Wh-What d’you say?” Vaan gasps, focused more on how to do this so that Balthier hits that one spot that made him see stars a few moments ago. But he needn’t worry, because now that he’s in motion, Balthier abandons his self-indulgent musing and grabs onto those narrow hips to get the right angle every time.

They don’t last long after that. Everything is all too new for Vaan and Balthier is in a mild euphoria that his mark is a requited red ( _red!_ ) match. When they’re sprawled out on their bedrolls, he turns Vaan over to admire his back some more, unable to resist tracing the words _again._

“I wonder why I said that?” he whispers, voice going soft from the exhaustion that’s starting to hit him.

“Tell me what it says,” Vaan murmurs against the words on Balthier’s chest.

When Balthier reads the words aloud, Vaan’s cheeks turn red with embarrassment, peaking the sky pirate’s interest. “Do you know why?”

Hiding his face against the sky pirate, Vaan groans, “Oh my god. You were _watching me_ sneak into the treasure room!”

Yes! He was!

Balthier remembers that night with perfect clarity now!

What feels like years ago, but was probably only a couple months prior, he and Fran slipped into the Dalmascan palace as easily as if they _lived_ there, and made their way to the hidden treasure room. That’s when Balthier noticed a fetching blonde wandering around the halls as well, shouting, “Hey, bucket head!” at the top of his lungs to lure the guards this way and that.

“It _was_ an amusing tactic to clear the way for us,” Balthier recalls.

Vaan, still mortified, mutters “I can’t believe you _saw_ that.”

As they drift off to sleep, Balthier continues to go over Vaan’s words with his fingertip. The script on the thief’s back is eye-catching, unique and definitely not a simple _Hello_.

But Balthier’s favorite thing about it is that it’s red because of him.


End file.
